CCC Camp Cascades (demolished) - Yosemite National Park CA

City:: Yosemite National Park, CA
Site Type:: CCC Camps, Forestry and Agriculture
New Deal Agencies:: Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC), Conservation and Public Lands, Work Relief Programs, National Park Service (NPS)
Started:: 1933
Completed:: 1942
Quality of Information:: Very Good
Marked:: No
Site Survival:: No Longer Extant

Description

Cascades Camp in Yosemite Valley was one of the two hubs of Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) activity in Yosemite National Park from 1933 to 1941; the other was Camp Wawona. There were around a dozen smaller CCC camps (seasonal and stub camps) added around the park, as well. Overall, around 7,000 enrollees served in Yosemite.

Camp Cascades was officially camp YNP 6 (the 6th camp established in Yosemite) or NP 20 in the western region. CCC Companies 920 and 942 operated out of Camp Cascades during the decade. (Co. 942 was integrated up to 1935, as seen in the photograph)

The first Camp Cascades, at the confluence of The Cascades and Merced River, washed away in a flood in December 1937. The second, or New, Camp Cascades was moved to higher ground nearer El Capitan in early 1938. (Pin drop on map is for the New Camp Cascades)

Nothing remains of the first camp (the present Cascades Picnic Area along highway 141) and almost nothing of the second camp. The chief remnant of the second Camp Cascades is a stone fireplace/chimney from the mess hall. Some bits of concrete foundation and level places in the meadows are also visible (Broesamle 2022).

The CCC enrollees made many improvements to the facilities in Yosemite Valley and ‘seasonal’ and ‘stub’ camps were set up to carry out short-term projects elsewhere in the park, such as at Tuolumne Meadows. Those improvements and camps are detailed in other Yosemite Park site pages (shown on the right).